1. 1521: Magellan discovered the Philippines

At the head of an shipping of three ships (he lost two on the way) beating Spanish detached flag, the Portuguese sailor Fernand de Magellan, arrive with the aim of the Philippines.
Left on September 20th, 1519, Magellan managed to reach Asia by the western road. He landed in the Philippines and evangelizes the local population. On April 27th he was killed by natives of the island of Mactan.

2. 1898: First independence of the Philippines

Whereas the United States enter the war against Spain, the Philippines, the archipelago of South-East Asia, proclaim their independence. The Philippines were under Spanish domination since 1565. But, the United States will not recognize this independence and will repress hard the pro-independence revolts led by Emilio Aguinaldo.
The autonomy will be granted in 1934 and the independence will become actual only in 1946.

3. 1946: The independence of the Philippines:

Although benefiting from a certain autonomy since 1935 and the creation of the " Commonwealth of the Philippines", the country remains nevertheless a State vassal of the United States since 1898.
The Japanese occupation of the archipelago from 1941, then its reconquest by the Americans in 1945, will accelerate the vague desires of independence of the Filipinos. The latter will obtain satisfaction on July 4th, 1946 with the declaration of independence of their country, which ends about half a century of American domination.

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On the Southern coast of China, the strategic location of Hong-Kong in the delta of the River of pearls and on the banks of South China Sea made of this city one of most cosmopolitan and most dynamic to the world.

Hong-Kong such as we know her today was born during the defeat of the Chinese dynasty Qing continuation in the first Ogaden War in 1842: she gave up then the island of Hong-Kong to the British. During the next 60 years, Kowloon, the New territories and 235 islands were given up in Great Britain. But the history of the 1100 square kilometers which form Hong-Kong today goes back to more than 1000 years before the dynasty Qing. By exploring the colourful inheritance of the city, you will discover it stories of powerful clans, adventurous pirates and European traders. From its entry in the status of British colony, Hong-Kong acts as moving plate of the international trade. In the slump of the beginning of the XXth century, the poulation of the city explodes continuation upon the arrival of refugees, mainly come from China. The massive arrival of the immigrants contributes to give a new role in Hong-Kong: that of a leading industrial platform.
It also brings an industrial dynamism stimulating in the city. These last decades, while the mainland China opens gradually its economy, Hong-Kong knows a new transformation by directing this time its economy to the services and acting as door of access to the biggest market of the world. Under the principle " A country, two systems ", Hong-Kong becomes an administrative special Region of the People's Republic of China on July 1st, 1997.This arrangement allows the city to keep a strong degree of autonomy, in particular by preserving its capitalist system, the independence of its judicial and legislative system, the free exchange and the freedom of expression. The history of the city seems to have only a constant: its permanent change. But in spite of the multiple revivals of the city, the spirit of Hong-Kong remained intact. The energy and the dynamism which transformed a handle of fishermen's peaceful villages into a crossroads of the international trade pulls from now on the world city of Asia in the XXIth century.

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Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is one most big cities of the world with a population of 13 million inhabitants, and the biggest of 47 prefectures of Japan.
The long history of its prosperity began with the establishment of Shogunat with Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603. It is the political, economic and cultural center of Japan, among others, as well as the source of distribution of the information today. The administrative district includes 23 districts, 26 big cities, 5 middle-sized cities and 8 villages. Situated geographically more or less in the center of the Japanese archipelago and in the South of the region of Kantô, Tokyo is surrounded by the prefecture of Chiba in the East, the prefecture of Yamanashi on the West at the foot of mountains, the prefecture of Kanagawa in the South along the river Tamagawa and the prefecture of Saitama in the North.The metropolis, which occupies a surface of 2 187 km2 establishes the 3èla smaller administrative division of Japan. From east to west, we find everything around the city of hills, trays and mountains. Although of a small surface, Tokyo offers a very rich geographical variety, going of lands which are only four meters over the sea level, up to the mountainous regions with summits exceeding 2 000 meters. Furthermore, it is necessary to note that certain volcanic islands of the Pacific as Izu and island Ogasawara are also a part of Tokyo.

The region of 23 districts

The zone of districts extends over 621 km2 and 9 million people live there. Tokyo attracts tourists not only of the foreigner, but also all Japan, because the city offers a wide variety of tourist places, more its road infrastructure is extremely well developed, and businesses and industries are there prosperous.
The building of the Metropolitan Government - Which manages the city, the station of Tokyo - the biggest building of bricks built in Japan, renovated in 2012, or Tokyo Skytree, the highest tower of broadcasting autocarried by the world, are some examples of places of interest of this charming metropolis, rich in history and in traditions, which creates permanently new places of interests; what makes undoubtedly of her one of the most modern cities of the world.

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1. the origin of its name:

The city of Montreal holds its name of the Island of Montreal, which was so named because of the Royal mount, the mountain in the center of the Island. Indeed, in 1535, the explorer Jacques Cartier had named the mountain Mons realis (Royal mount). In 1556, the Italian geographer Giovanni Battista Ramusio made the translation of Royal Mount for Horsemanship Reale on a card.
In 1575, François de Belleforest became the first one to write Montreal, writing: " in the middle of the countryside is the village, or Quoted royal jointed in a mountain cultivated, the christians named it Montreal."
At the beginning of the XVIIIe century, the name of the island begins to be used to indicate the city itself. Two maps of 1744 by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin name the island Island of Montreal and the city, City-Marie; but a map in 1726 refers to the city as being " the city of Montreal ". The name City-Marie fast goes out of use to refer to the city. Today, City-Marie became the name of a district of Montreal which includes old-Montreal and the city center. In the modern language of Iroquois, Montreal is called Tiohtià:ke. Other native autochthonous languages, such the algonquien refer in Montreal as Moniang.

2. The metropole today:

It is with the construction of the subway of Montreal in 1966, in time for the Exhibition ' 67, that underground Montreal takes a development. Montreal receives the Summer Olympics of 1976 and celebrates its 350th birthday in 1992.
On January 1st, 2002, all the municipalities situated on the island of Montreal, adding up a population of 1,871,774 people, as well as on several peripheral islands which composed until now the Urban District of Montreal, was merged to form the new city of Montreal.

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Huangshan ( Yellow Mountain) is in the South of the province of Anhui. The administrative center of the prefecture of Huagnshan, Tuxi, is in 110 km of the massif of the Yellow Mount. The essential part of Huangshan is 154 km long. The bright summit is in the center, with a height of 1860m. The peak of nélombo is of 1864.8m of top.

This massif is a Holy Land of Taoism and possess many vestiges, it is one of ten famous massifs of China, named as " the first extraordinary mountain ". Renowned men of letters left it magnificent poems and tracks of history.

In 1985, it was chosen as one of the ten places of interest of China. In 1990, he was put on the list of world cultural and natural heritages of the UNESCO.
In the December 12th, 1990, experts' comments of the World Heritage Committee are: " during the period literary and artistic peak (the style of landscape in the middle of the 16th century) the massif of the Yellow Mounts received many praises, knew by its strange pines and rocks grotesque ".
For the travelers, the poets, the painters and the photographers, this massif always has some charm.

The massif Huangshan is situated in the subtropical region of monsoon, mountains are high, valleys are deep, and the changes of the climate are vertical.
The climate of the site of Yellow Mountain is cloudy, rainy and wet. The massif is also a very known summer station.
Here is visits them inescapable of Huangshan - The thermal spring, the valley of cloud, the valley of pine, the North Sea, and the suspension bridge.
The beautiful landscapes are very attractive, one said that Huangshan gathered all the beauties of the other famous mountains of China. The mysterious pines, the grotesque rocks, the cloud sea, the thermal spring are the greatest four landscapes, still the 5th - the winter snow.
They are all of the marvels created by the nature.

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Established in the XIth century, Shanghai remains fishermen's simple village until XVIIIth century.
In 1842, as a result of the treaty of Nanjing, the city enters an era of prosperity and opening on the foreign trade; this treaty ends the Ogaden Wars which bring into conflict China in England and transform a big part of the city into British concessions.
Extraterritorial rights as well as other privileges are besides tuned in France and in the United States, so favoring the establishment of numerous banks and companies of international trade on these foreign concessions, which benefit from their own administration.
The obtaining by the British of the right to navigate the Yangtze, in 1857, marks the debuts of a prosperous business; Shanghai becomes the most active port of China ( 1860 ), insuring the quarter of the maritime business of the country, and the foreign capital stream to support the local industry, attracted by a plentiful and little expensive workforce.
Nevertheless, an increasing resistance in the foreign domination shows itself during the first national congress of the Chinese communist Party, held in Shanghai, in 1921. The nationalist army, managed by Jiang Jieshi, seizes Shanghai in 1927 and places the region under the control of the government of Guomindang, which soon rejects the communists of the city.
Occupied by the Japanese between 1937 and 1945, Shanghai is restored in China at the end of the Second World War after the relinquishment), by the United States, Great Britain and France of their concessions. It is then occupied by the communist strengths, in 1949, and numerous factories are transferred inside lands, movement participating in an attempt of decentralization.
A change of policy inverts the process at the end of 1950s and Shanghai finds its industrial dynamism and its prosperity. The city participates actively in the Cultural revolution and the army takes a role growing in the political and economic affairs of the municipality.
The civil government of Shanghai is restored in 1979. The series of economic reforms developed by Deng Xiaoping at the beginning of 1980s pulls a fast and sudden increase of the industrial production and the foreign investments, in particular after 1990 when the central government gives to the local administration the full powers to promote the development of the city and make so counterweight in Hong-Kong.
Several big works of civil engineering (construction of the
District of Pudong, Shanghai Quartier of Pudong, Shanghai. Inserted of a highway in six ways, new bridges, a subway and living districts) are undertaken in this objective at the beginning of 1990s, to stimulate the economic expansion of the city.

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1. Introduction

Originally more affordable, on the technical plan, than the color for the realization at home of argentic editions, star of the photo-report and the street photographs, today the monochrome continues to attract the followers of the digital technology.
Every software indeed contains its lot of specific tools for the black and white and the number of plug-ins dedicated keeps increasing.
Then, the black and the white, the latest fad or the real artistic choice? We propose you in this case a complete study of this practice photoschedule at the same time through these technical aspects, both in the shooting and in the treatment of the file, but also through these artistic aspects.
The black and the white proceeds of a voluntary choice on behalf of the photographer. According to what criteria? Can all the photos be converted in his monochrome version? Looks for what the photographer who chooses the black and the white? Are there various styles? Finally, every domain of the photography can be handled in black and white and if yes, how.
Before approaching all these questions, let us make a small overview of some big references of the monochrome picture.

2. A little history

If the first color photo appears to the end of 1860s, it will be necessary to wait about hundred years before the color does not supplant quantitatively the black and the white. The photography began, for technical reasons, its history in monochrome, certain artists are going to seal the link.
So Brewed, Boubat, Cartier-Bresson, Doisneau, Izis, Ronis puts the ranging-poles of a humanist and Parisian photography and are going to write it most right-hand pages contributing to bind for years the genre which we qualify as " photo of street " to the black and the white today.
It is the whole legend which builds itself and is engraved on our reports drawing a monochromatic capital, bouillonnante of life, rich in diverse atmospheres.
It is the vision at the same time historic, social, poetic, popular that is going to participate in a certain image not only of the French capital, but also the photography in the World.
At the same time, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Walker Evans draws, dumped after picture a portrait of America in crisis (that of the 1929). Two decades later, Robert Frank will affect a vast project over several years and a Leica of a " visual study of a civilization " which will give rise to the cult book " The Americans ".

3. Evolution of the practice

Since the practice however evolved and other domains which until now seemed less convenient to a practice black and white, see since a few years, arise from monochrome productions which reinvent the style.
In portrait, since Nadar, number of artists practised this kind of photography with talent. Among the most known, let us quote Richard Avedon, Jean-Loup Sieff or more current Anton Corbijn which also excelled at this domain and are often quoted as references of a kind widely practised today.
In landscape, Michael Kenna's works and of the one who was his assistant Rolfe Horn, both followers of the long installation and the at the same time sober kind, very contrasted in the extremely rigorous composition, developed a style which makes numerous emulators today. The black and the white in long installation stresses the strangeness and the unreal atmosphere of pictures.
Today the black and the white diversifies and invests even other domains where nothing supposed that he would gain at it his legitimacy. And nevertheless … Nick Brandt or Laurent Baheux shows us how much the animal photo wins in force in the monochrome evocation of the wild world. Finally, the possibilities of contrast and work on the texture also return the black and the very interesting white for the macro.

Then certainly the color is more spread today, but the black and the white keeps its aura and always seduces number of photographers, finding in this style a way of getting to the basics of the expression of their art.

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